Buy the Bilstein Sport struts to go with the Pro Kit. Also, when buying the springs, make sure to get the 335i springs because they're slightly lower than the XI springs. I've got the 335i springs on my XI and it is near perfect because it puts the car a little lower than the stock sport suspension for the 335i.

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Hello everyone. Great thread. I’m looking for the best set up for my daily driver. 2006 330xi. Thinking about the bilstein sport + Eibach setup(p/n 20 85 1 40). Runflats are gone. I’m looking for an attracting drop but still a daily driver. I'm upgrading to the UUC sway bars and adding the powerflex rear subframe bushing inserts. A lot of dialog around the 335xi but any req's for the 330xi?

Bumping this to the top with a request for Xi-specific performance alignment specs. This is for Koni sport/Eibach Pro-Kit on 335xi. I have searched and can't seem to find any. On other cars an aggressive street performance alignment is considerable different from stock. I was thinking zero toe front, .2 deg total toe in rear and -1.5 to -2.0 rear camber if I can get it. (this is a common street performance spec alignment for an e36 M3 w/o camber plates). Just not sure what the AWD platform needs different vs RWD if anything.

As you know, I got the koni yellows and eibachs on my e92xi. After an alignment, the front camber is just a tad over -1 degrees, the rears are -2.1. The guy said that he can't adjust the rears any more.

Not sure on what the specs should be but -2 in the rear is possible, camber wise.

@critical05
My small understanding of the geometry of the suspension is that as you lower the rear loses adjustability. That is why some vendors such as HPA have developed some adjustable parts to aid with this. Speak with harold about your issue.

As you know, I got the koni yellows and eibachs on my e92xi. After an alignment, the front camber is just a tad over -1 degrees, the rears are -2.1. The guy said that he can't adjust the rears any more.

Not sure on what the specs should be but -2 in the rear is possible, camber wise.

Thanks for the info. Mine came out at -1.1 front camber, could not get the pins out so left it there. I set the front toe at zero. Rear w/o adjustment was -2.1 with far too much toe-in. My understanding is you don't want more neg camber rear vs front so I set rears at -1.0 with 1/4 deg total toe in. Have no idea if this is correct but the car looked odd with so much rear and less in front.

One thing I did find out was releasing the control arm bushing and retightening them fully loaded is really important. It went from -1.6 to -2.1 in camber (before final adjustment) and really made the rear feel more planted when driving. It was bouncing around I guess twisting the bushing before that final step. I made some ramps out of 2x6's so I could get under there and tighten the control arm and toe control arm adjustment nuts with the weight on the tires.

I will take it to some pros later to fine tune but this is good enough for a ballpark shade tree alignment.

One thing the tech told me is that BMW recommends to perform the alignment with 250lbs in the car. I saw the tech go over to the fitness section and pull some plate weights and place them on the floor of the car.

He said that since the toe was in spec, the high negative camber in the rear shouldn't effect tire wear too much.

It feels planted in the corners so the camber isn't excessive to effect the driving. I thought the camber in the rear looked excessive, even thought about adjustable lower control arms because even with 15mm spacers in the rear the tires were no longer flush with the wheel well.

I convinced myself that -2 in the rear is fine after doing some more searching. I guess a lot of newer cars have more camber in the rear for performance or is it safety (can't remember) at the expense of some tire wear.

I catch myself looking at other cars rear camber, not the lowered civic out there. I noticed that x3 and x5 have a lot of camber in the rear factory and some of those have bigger meats in the rear than mine, justification that mine is fine.

The tech saw my radar detector and even asked me If I drive aggressive, he said that I'd like the feel, which I do.

Question from an E90 XI guy who is fine with the stock ride height and stiffness but would like to reduce understeer. Does it makes sense to just get camber plates to make the front camber match the rears, and then if that's not enough go square tire width on the fronts? I'm currently running the factory staggered 162s and have thought about buying another set and running the wide ones in the summer on all 4 corners and the narrow ones in the winter if that's what it takes. Yes, I like the stock look. I'm not opposed to additional new suspension parts, but I don't know that any of that is necessary for what I want.

Question from an E90 XI guy who is fine with the stock ride height and stiffness but would like to reduce understeer. Does it makes sense to just get camber plates to make the front camber match the rears, and then if that's not enough go square tire width on the fronts? I'm currently running the factory staggered 162s and have thought about buying another set and running the wide ones in the summer on all 4 corners and the narrow ones in the winter if that's what it takes. Yes, I like the stock look. I'm not opposed to additional new suspension parts, but I don't know that any of that is necessary for what I want.

I'll give this a shot. Would give some consideration to upgrading the suspension at some point. It is the worst OEM susp on a german car I've ever driven. Night and day difference. I have driven 40 year old 2002's with better OEM susp. Plus eliminating the high front end 4x4 look (rake) will put a bit more weight on the front tires.

Short of that get a base alignment to see where you're at, then maybe consider going to zero toe front, less camber rear & less toe-in (but still some like 1/10th - 2/10ths degree total).

Also I am told you can remove the front alignment pin in the strut hat and get 0.5 deg more negative camber each side. I tried that the other day, some come out easy some require a bit more work. Mine was the latter and I did not have the time to take out the struts again. I would like to see -1.5 front -1 rear on my car with Koni/Eibach before winter just to try.

Anyway I guess these cars come with a a lot of rear camber vs fronts, this is not so good for putting down power in a straight line, and also makes the rears stick more than the front in corners.

My thoughts were with an AWD car you'd want same/less rear camber R vs F but closer to zero for straight line traction. I don't track or autocross this car so my needs are different.

Once you get the alignment sorted and see how much is there (or not) then play with wheels & tires etc. But then this is an AWD car so it will always tend to understeer more.

Buy the Bilstein Sport struts to go with the Pro Kit. Also, when buying the springs, make sure to get the 335i springs because they're slightly lower than the XI springs. I've got the 335i springs on my XI and it is near perfect because it puts the car a little lower than the stock sport suspension for the 335i.

You haven't had any issues with those shorter springs with the XI Bilsteins?

The only issue I have is I wish I had the money to buy the Bilsteins when I bought the springs (over a year later and the funds still aren't there). I think the ride would be a little nicer and the struts wouldn't bottom out so easily on the AWESOME pot holes we have here in the Great Northwest.

After a year's use on these springs I would have still bought them. I'm not looking for a slammed car but slightly lower than stock 335i Sport height is ideal to me. I say this because I had a 2008 335i Sport and the height was almost perfect (now I have a 2008 335xi Sport, both sedans). I would have liked to drop the 335i a smidge but the cost of the springs and alignment (plus the wear on the stock struts since I couldn't afford the Bilsteins) wasn't worth it to get an extra 0.5" of lowering. I really like the height of my XI now and unless I can come up with some money for the Bilsteins, it will remain in this state.

For reference, after a year's use the front drop is .875" and the rear about .563"

I have been reading post on different forums on spring/strut/shock combos and learned nothing at all. Then I found this forum and you guys/gals know your stuff. I am currently thinking about the Eibach/Bilstein setup.

The question I have is on reducing the rake effect. One of the other forums was talking about replacing the tophat with a non-xi tophat. I also heard something about a 1/4" reinforcement plate that can be removed. Does anyone know anything about this? Is there any truth to this, or has anyone done this?

There are mixed feelings about removing that 1/4" plate but since I'm responding first you'll get my opinion, leave it in.

With the Eibach "i" springs you accomplish two things at once - you'll get rid of that 4x4 ground clearance/wheel gap and you'll even out the wheel gap from front to rear. It won't be perfect like it would be with a set of coilovers, but it will be a lot better than stock.